Extreme Hot & Fast Brisket

[cmack]

For some years now, I have been gradually increasing my cook temps on briskets, with great results. I finally decided to go whole in and see just how hot I could pull it off. Cooking on a Weber performer with a Slow N Sear, have 2 temp probes, one for the meat and one about 1.5 inches above the grill grates. I trimmed the brisket to length so it would fit the 22" Weber and ended up with the point and about 1/3 of the flat. Filled the SNS with lit charcoal and oak chunks, opened the bottom vents nearly wide open and the same with the top. Seasoned meat with salt, black pepper and granulated garlic. loaded meat when temps at grate were 380. temps finally settled in at 418 degrees at grate level with the brisket between the fire and the probe. Temps at the lid level were running 560-575, checked these with an infrared temp gun and the supplied Weber lid gauge. Cooked to 160 degrees and double wrapped with butcher paper and cooked to 208 degrees. Wrapped in towels and placed in ice chest for 3 hours. Absolutely the best brisket I've done and arguably the best I've tasted. Total time on the pit was 3 hrs 45 min.

 

[cmack]

Total time on pit was 3 hours 45 minutes

 

[SmokinVOLfan]

Cant say I have ever seen one done at this high of a temp but cant argue with the results looks great!

 

[texomakid]

Wow! I've heard of hot & fast brisket but I've always been a low & slow guy. very nice. I will definitely consider trying this in the very near future.

 

[chilerelleno]

Very interesting.
Results look fantastic.
Might have to try your extreme method.
You're cutting 3-4 hours off most hot/fast methods.

 

[disco]

Very interesting. I will need to try this.

 

[gary s]

You don't see many people or BBQ joints that cook Briskets Hot and fast, But there are some around.
I looks like yours turned out really good. It looked (by the pic's) plenty moist How was the tenderness ?
One of the Oldest and Famous BBQ places in the Mecca of BBQ joints (Lockhart, Texas) KREUZ meat market and BBQ
They cook Hot and Fast with excellent results, they have a huge following.
I'm Old School (and Old) so I'm a low and slow guy, I don't have a clue how many Briskets I have cooked, all low and slow. Keep up the great smoking and experimenting. Be sure and post Pics and results, Good or Bad.

Gary

 

[tallbm]

Nice work!

Welcome to my mother's world hahaha. She smokes briskets basically the same way but she wraps with foil in the end.
If the brisket gets a little too tender its no big deal because when she is smoking brisket, it is always to be eaten the next day so it makes a minimum 12 hour stop in the fridge while still being wrapped in the foil.

The next day there is no fear of being too tender because she slices it cold and it will NOT fall apart or anything on you. In fact it is super easy to get the exact thickness of slices you want.
From there it gets reheated and put in chafing dishes for holiday family events, or just reheated in the oven for immediately family consumption.

It is quite fool proof, allows for doing A LOT of brisket, and as you can see finishes in record time :)

Great post!

 

[gmc2003]

Pic's are worth a thousand words - and those pictures look great. Nicely done.

Point for sure
Chris

 

[cmack]

You don't see many people or BBQ joints that cook Briskets Hot and fast, But there are some around.
I looks like yours turned out really good. It looked (by the pic's) plenty moist How was the tenderness ?
One of the Oldest and Famous BBQ places in the Mecca of BBQ joints (Lockhart, Texas) KREUZ meat market and BBQ
They cook Hot and Fast with excellent results, they have a huge following.
I'm Old School (and Old) so I'm a low and slow guy, I don't have a clue how many Briskets I have cooked, all low and slow. Keep up the great smoking and experimenting. Be sure and post Pics and results, Good or Bad.

Gary

I got hooked on hot and fast after spending time in Lockhart and Luling and talking to the guys tending the pits. Completely changed my way of both seasoning and cooking briskets. I've been pushing the limits just to see where the sweet spot is. With my current equipment, I have pretty much hit the wall on temps. My son has a Kamado Big Joe, that'll run hotter than my Weber or offset. I may try a run on that, he says it'll run 500-600. I never had any real issues with low and slow although I feel like I'm turning out at least as good if not better product much. much faster. Don't see myself ever going back.

 

[hardcookin]

Point just for the experimenting. Brisket looks pretty awesome.
I have done a brisket at 325 and it turned out good. Maybe not quite as much smoke,but other wise good.
Most of the time smoke them at 275.

 

[SmokinAl]

I'm with Doug, I smoke mine at 270-280, but after seeing yours & Chili is doing one right now, I may try this for Memorial Day. I have a packer thawing right now & was going to do an all nighter in my WSM/Guru setup. But may rethink that & just run the Lang at 350+. You can't argue with results!
Al

 

[chilerelleno]

Point just for the experimenting. Brisket looks pretty awesome.
I have done a brisket at 325 and it turned out good. Maybe not quite as much smoke,but other wise good.
Most of the time smoke them at 275.

I'm doing one right now, and I started at 275° and gave it 2.5 hours of hickory smoke before turning the heat up to almost 400°.
I did so cause I couldn't run my CCSV24 any hotter and get get good smoke.

 

[wbf610]

Looks good.

 

[chilerelleno]

Scientifically proven results, this has been tested and confirmed!

Cmack, thank you for the push to the Extreme Side.
I can't see ever again spending a long night tending a smoker for a brisket.
I'm very happy to have given the real Hot-n-Fast method a try and seen such an excellent results.
If i was using a stick or charcoal burner this would have been a 4 hour brisket.

A Four (4) Hour 18lb Brisket... Damn!
I know I've seen others swear by it and seen world famous BBQ joints serve it up.
But when you're raised Low-n-Slow it's hard to get out of you're comfort zone habits.

 

[cmack]

Chile, I can't imagine doing an overnighter anymore. Consider planning brisket for dinner, sleep in until 0900, drink coffee, watch the news, leisurely start your fire, cook your brisket and have dinner on the table for 1800. That's living the dream. Next up will an extreme hot and fast pork butt.

 

[Rafter H BBQ]

Nice cook, that hot and fast method looks to have worked great!